A variety of sports training devices have been developed to enhance athlete performance. Many sports require specific skills and abilities and a variety of training devices have been used to facilitate drills and practice exercises that facilitate developing such skills and abilities.
The game of hockey requires accurate passing between players. It is useful for a player to develop the ability to deliver accurate passes and to competently handle passes provided to that player. One type of device that has been proposed to facilitate passing drills includes rubber band-like straps supported at two ends to provide a spring-like surface against which a hockey puck may be directed and subsequently received from.
While these devices may be of some use, they suffer from various drawbacks and limitations. For example, the rubber band-like straps typically do not mimic the behavior of a passed puck during real game situations. Additionally, there tends to be a limited area where the puck needs to impact the strap or the rebounding effect is significantly different. For example, near the ends of the strap much less of a rebound effect occurs compared to when the puck impacts the center of the strap. This difference in rebound behavior can be annoying and hinder the progress of passing drills.
Another skill that is required in the game of hockey is for a goaltender to be able to react to puck deflections and so-called one-timer shots immediately after the puck has been passed between opposing players. When players are not available for conducting such drills for a goaltender, goaltending coaches have tried to use the dasher boards as a surface against which to deflect the puck toward the goaltender in a fashion that mimics a deflection or one-timer shot during a game situation. The rigid dasher board provides a surface from which the puck can rebound but the behavior does not simulate real game conditions.